Hazel in the Demon's Den

Lenny scrambled to explain himself by talking about things like it being "too good of an opportunity to pass up" and how "the market for children is better than ever." Will didn't buy a single word of it.

Their business was booming without needing to dabble in human trafficking. Did everyone forget that they stopped doing that because it was how Alfonzo ended up dead in a shoot-out with the cops?

Will had always hated that part of the business anyway. Maybe it was because he was first exposed to it when he was a child himself. Or maybe it was because too many of those little girls looked like Hazel. The demand for blonde blue-eyed females was especially high.

After living with Charlie as long as he had, he had no illusions about what humanity was truly like. Illegal adoptions didn't even comprise one tenth of what happened to trafficked children. Typically, buyers had much more sinister motives.

Not long after Will first started working for Alfonzo, he had come across a warehouse full of kids waiting to be shipped off who knows where. Their hands and feet were bound and most of them were wearing gags to muffle their cries.

One of the kids, a blonde blue-eyed girl who was probably between six and eight years old, looked him dead in the eye and begged him to help them escape. For a frenzied second, he actually thought it was Hazel because the girl had called him by name.

It turned out she had overheard Alfonzo talking to him earlier in the day and remembered it. The girl had thought he would help her because they were both children. She probably figured he had been taken from his parents too and that was why he was here.

But Will was working with Alfonzo of his own accord. This messy business was simply means to an end.

If the girl actually had been Hazel, Will would have escaped with her without hesitation. But she was only a lookalike. He had to stay in Alfonzo's good graces long enough to build a life for himself when he went to meet Hazel again. He ignored her pleas.

Undeniably, little girls that looked like his lost angel continued to get to him right up until the day he took over the business. That was when he put an end to the human trafficking aspect of the smuggling ring for good.

Or so he thought. Lenny and his buddies had the bright idea to start it up again without their boss's knowledge or permission.

Will had gotten Roberto to look into it for him. Rico and Johnny, the two idiots who recently got arrested, were involved as well. So were a few other low-level thugs he usually didn't associate with directly. All were particular friends of Lenny's.

He really hadn't wanted to deal with this mess himself but it was clear that Lenny had too many friends inside the organization for Roberto to kill him without causing a riot. Everyone needed to see it and know the orders had come directly from the boss.

Mr. Gold's authority was both feared and respected by everyone—except those involved in the human trafficking debacle, apparently. Unfortunately, Will would be forced to handle this one himself.

How unsavory. He wasn't like Charlie; he didn't enjoy killing.

It had been unavoidable in his line of work but it was more of a bother than anything. Having to deal with it now when he could be spending time with his wife was beyond irritating.

"Ray," Will said sharply.

He snapped to attention immediately. "Yes boss?"

"Call everyone here. We're going to have a little meeting."

"E-everyone?" Ray stammered. "A lot of our guys are out on jobs right now; there's no way I can get everyone."

Did he have to explain everything to this simpleton? His countenance grew colder and his golden eyes glinted dangerously.

"Then get everyone who isn't currently on a boat or plane," Will spoke through gritted teeth. "Anyone who isn't out of town and doesn't show up in the next hour is going to lose a finger."

A mass message went out to everyone immediately and Will slumped down in a chair, rubbing his temples in exhaustion. These morons really didn't know how to function without being told exactly what to do. It was a miracle business managed to go on as usual without him most of the time.

That was largely due to Roberto's influence. Most of the smugglers were almost as afraid of him as they were their boss. Will had earned his position as Alfonzo's number two due to his many years of exemplary service and his ability to control a room full of men much larger than him with a single glance.

The cold light in his eyes put even the biggest, toughest smugglers into their places instantly. Alfonzo had taught him many things about how to fight people larger than him but his frightening stare hadn't been one of them. That was simply Will's natural state.

Roberto didn't strike fear into people's hearts that way though. He was gigantic and had muscles that even the most dedicated of gym rats could only dream of. Yet when the two of them were together, people still instinctively feared Will more.

He was used to it. The fear he tended to strike into the hearts of all who met him had been a burden when he was younger. But as the head of a smuggling ring, it was his most valuable weapon.

A glance at the clock told him it had only been fifteen minutes since the order went out. Nobody else was close enough to get here yet. L.A. was infamous for its traffic.

Will idly drummed his fingers on his thigh and wondered what Hazel was up to. Was she still at the nail salon? He couldn't wait to see what she looked like with her nails done.

Up until this point, he had never personally seen her with nail polish on. There were a few pictures on her art blog of intricate nail art designs she had done herself over the years but that wasn't the same.